The Present Disclosure relates, generally, to wafer connectors, and, more particularly, to a wafer connector having an improved grounding member incorporated therein for use in terminating multiple wire cables.
Cable assemblies are used to connect many electronic components together, especially in the telecommunications industry. Cables contain multiple wires and each wire is terminated to a single signal terminal in a cable connector, typically referred to as a wafer connector due to its size. The cable wires have individual conductors that are enclosed, in an insulative covering and the wires, in pairs, are then wrapped in a conductive foil, or other type of sheathing, that serves as an exterior ground which extends the entire lengths of the wire pairs. In twin-axial drain-type systems, two conductive wires are disposed on the exterior of the wire pairs, in contact with the conductive foil and run the entire length of the wire pairs in order to provide a means for terminating the conductive foil to ground conductors of connectors disposed at opposite ends of the cable.
In drain-type cable systems, care must be taken to unwrap the shielding foil and expose the drain wires so they may be terminated to their corresponding ground terminal tails of the end connectors. Some cable systems are drainless, meaning that no drain wires are provided and other means of making contact between the outer conductive foil and then connector ground terminals must be utilized. One manner of termination in such systems uses specially formed nests made as part of the ground terminals. These nests have a semicircular, or U-shaped configuration to form a wide surface that makes contact with the conductive foil of the wire pairs. This requires additional stamping and forming of the ground terminal as well as increases the height of the ground terminals within the connectors. This leads to increased cost and size of the cable systems. Additional labor is also required to ensure that the wires are properly set in the nest. Accordingly, a need exists for a grounding structure for use in drainless cable applications that is inexpensive and easy to assemble, and which interconnects multiple grounding foils of a multi-wire cable.
The Present Disclosure is therefore directed to a grounding structure in the form of a clamp formed to securely make grounding contact with a plurality of the wire pairs of the cable, connect the conductive foils of adjacent wire pairs together, and hold the twin-axial wires together as a single unit for termination to the tails of an associated wafer connector.